If you’ve ever gone to church, you’ve likely been pressured into an uncomfortable opening prayer, followed by a lengthy session of jargon, leading to a false sense of personal accomplishment. If you’ve ever been to one of the Grand Junction City Council’s meetings, you’ve likely experienced something disturbingly similar.
I sat down with members of Western Colorado’s Atheist and Freethinkers, who informed me that, prior to 2009, the City council hosted regular prayers to Jesus Christ before engaging in city business. When challenged by the group, the council refused to remove the invocation and instead opened it up to anyone in the community, without any kind of restriction. Granted, as WCAF president Anne Landman notes, Jesuit, Atheist and even Anarchist community members have had their shot at the invocation.

But that doesn’t necessarily matter. An invocation log maintained by WCAF shows that the council has used this not-so-clever attempt at manipulation to continue their abuse, with upwards of 25 meetings still referencing Jesus Christ. Just because you’re finally acknowledging the existence of other beliefs doesn’t mean you can keep using your fifteen seconds on the soapbox to blur the lines between government and religion.

As an atheist who believes wholeheartedly in peoples’ right to practice the religion of their choice, I find the city council’s invocation to be a violation of First Amendment rights and would encourage them to consider how they would feel if roles were reversed. Surely they wouldn’t appreciate alternative religious or secular values being imposed on them by a governing body, especially one that functions off their consent and tax dollars?

Alas, that’s the benefit of holding a majority. Grand Junction is ideologically divided roughly into a 2:1 ratio of Republicans to Democrats. It’s no coincidence that conservative religious values are latching to local government.

I’m not advocating that we do away with Christianity altogether. I’m merely reinforcing the very recommendations the city council’s own lawyer gave them when the American Civil Liberties Union was contacted. Keep your god(s) out of government sponsored events, and there’s no problem to speak of.

Shouldn’t we be more concerned about getting city business done anyway?

I love this town, and it excites me when I see it seeking to better itself. The newly-renovated library will consume a decent amount of my time over the summer, and CMU just keeps on expanding. Even Lincoln Park’s new playground looks like great groundies territory.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call progress, and it should serve as a great unifier. Why go through all the trouble of reinforcing divisions just to make a public thank you to your personal god? Christians frequently tell me, “It’s not a religion. It’s a relationship.” I don’t know about you, but the last place I want my relationships discussed are at a city council meeting.

However, the fact that the invocation remains, and is still a source of division among community members, speaks to nothing but the childish manner in which our local government operates. We may as well replace our city council meetings with a third grade classroom and have them argue over who gets to present for show and tell. At least we’d have a better chance of seeing something interesting while we’re busy wasting time.